Zoya Lotus, Josie, and Yana Swatch And Review

Hey hey hey!  Sorry for the lapse in posts lately, my family flew into town this weekend to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday, and needless to say, I was busy busy busy!  I had a lot of fun hanging out with my brothers and their SOs, as well as my mom and LO this weekend.  We ate a lot, went to Venice beach and the Ktown Night Market, as well as did a quick trip to the OC for my mom's birthday lunch.  I'm pooped!  Did you have a fabulous weekend?  Any fun activities for Easter?

Zoya's Earth Day promotion starts today, and I thought it would be nice to swatch a few Zoyas to help you decide which colors to purchase during the sale.  Last year I did a few swatches a well, which you should check out just in case you're wondering what shades to purchase.  Don't forget to check out the rest of my Zoya posts, which feature all finishes including the coveted Pixie Dusts.   Zoya never fails to amaze me with their perfect formula and smooth application.  The brush is on the thinner side, but it fans out easily to provide excellent coverage.  Gotta love those easy to organize bottles too!

First up is Zoya Lotus, a lovely dusty greyed out purple with a boatload of pink shimmer.  I used three coats here with no topcoat.  I love how the pink shimmer diffuses light!

Zoya Lotus

Zoya Lotus

Zoya Lotus

Zoya Lotus

Zoya Lotus

Next up is Zoya Josie, a wonderful creme de menthe green.  Not an easy color to come by, and its got a lovely cream formula that's not streaky.  Three coats here with no topcoat.

Zoya Josie

Zoya Josie

Zoya Josie

Zoya Josie

Zoya Josie

 Finally today I have for you a lovely fuchsia pink with hidden silver shimmer.  I don't know about you, but I'm really feeling this shade of pink for this summer.  Again, three easy to apply coats here with no topcoat.

Zoya Yana

Zoya Yana

Zoya Yana

Zoya Yana

Zoya Yana

I chose these colors because I'm really enjoying these types of shades for the season.  They're not quite pastel but not quite neon either.  They rich, vibrant, and puts me in the mood to enjoy the refreshing spring air.  Zoya's Earth Day promo is the best time to take advantage of the sale to stock up on colors that you've been lemming all year, and a good time to recycle those old bottles that aren't getting any love.  Use promo code ZDAY2014 when checking out!

Elevation Polish Epidote Swatch And Review

With daylight savings, it's been difficult getting LO to bed on time.  She's been playing "who can stay up longer" with me, and sometimes she wins!

Oh and I got my holographic wallet!  I originally wanted a smoother finish but I realized that the textured finish was probably more durable and less prone to scratching.  Don't you love it?  Now, all I need are my holographic flats to arrive and I'll be a happy camper.

Speaking of holographic finishes, I had to pull out Elevation Polish Epidote, a spring green linear holo that applied smoothly and easily without streaking.  I heard some people grumble about the general formula of Elevation holos, and I have to admit I have no idea what they're complaining about.  I used three coats here although two may have been sufficient for shorter nails.  No topcoat so you can see it's natural finish which is fairly glossy on its own.

Elevation Polish Epidote

Elevation Polish Epidote

Elevation Polish Epidote

Elevation Polish Epidote

Elevation Polish Epidote

Elevation Polish Epidote

I love this shade of green, it's so perfect for the upcoming season.  There's a hint of gold shimmer in there as well, and it really helps give this color the illusion of sunlight dappling off blades of fresh spring grass.  If I had more time I would do some stamping over this but since LO tried so hard to beat me at her game tonight, I have less "me" time than usual.  Little scamp.  Overall, I'm loving this green holo and it makes me want to go out and get all the green holos out there.  Moar, moar moar!

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet? Swatch And Review

Happy Sunday Funday!  We'll be at the park today celebrating LO's birthday with family and friends.  There will be lots of good food and bbq, libations, and games.  I hope everything turns out well!  This includes the turtle cupcake cake that we're making from scratch.  Eeks!

I have another Wet n' Wild Pop Art Craze polish for you, and that's Who Is Ultra Violet?  It's a very apt name for this polish because it's a bright violet crelly that applied fairly well for being a crelly and was fully opaque in three coats.  Violets never look that great on me because of the pink undertones, but this one wasn't too bad.  It dried shiny on its own so no topcoat necessary.

Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

I thought Who Is Ultra Violet might be a good base color for FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider, a gorgeous violet with silver blue shimmer that was released this past spring in the Wild About Spring Collection.  This color is really stunning and the shimmer is really strong.  The only downfall is that it's very sheer and takes at least four coats to become opaque.  Here, I used one layer of Itsy Bitsy Spider over Who Is Ultra Violet and I think I got the same effect.  No topcoat in these pics either.

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

The blue flash is much more apparent in low light.  Sorry for the blurry pic!

FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider Over Wet n' Wild Who Is Ultra Violet?

Don't you love that shimmer?  I'm not sure if this color is still available, but if you can find it I highly recommend it!  I can never get enough of shimmers like this.  I haven't used Finger Paints that much before but after this swatch I'm interested in trying more!  Do you like Finger Paints, and if so, what's your favorite color?

If you haven't yet, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win OPI Spotted and three OPIs from the new fall San Francisco collection!

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust and Not In This Galaxy Swatch And Review

Hello everyone!  Boy, am I exhausted.  I'm trying to adjust to my job's new rotating schedule, and this week I have the early shift.  I completely miscalculated what time to go to bed and wake up last night and ended up getting only 5 and 1/2 hours of sleep instead of 7 and 1/2 hours.  Whoops!

A little while ago I posted some swatches of the Hologlams from the China Glaze collection that was released a few months ago, and for this post I have two more to add.  I happily swapped these from the lovely Kitty from Kitty Polish N Bags from MUA for a couple backups that had been sitting unloved in my stash for awhile.  First is Not In This Galaxy, a coral with a holographic rainbow that is weak compared to the others in this collection.  I used two coats with no basecoat or topcoat, and it applied evenly and smoothly.  There was a weird tendency of my index finger to bubble - I applied it three times on that finger and although it applied smoothly, it bubbled a few seconds later.  Strange!  All of these pics are in direct light except for the first which is in the light tent.

PS. If you're looking for a stronger holo in the same shade, check this post out of OMG BFF.

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy Light Tent

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

China Glaze Hologlam  Not In This Galaxy

Next is Cosmic Dust, a medium grey holo that was surprisingly my favorite from the entire collection.  I really love this shade of grey!  It's not quite charcoal, but it's not silver either, making it a completely unique shade to my holographic collection.  I used two easy coats with no topcoat or basecoat. 

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust Light Tent

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

China Glaze Hologlams Cosmic Dust

Don't you love that shade of grey?  The holo isn't crazy strong like the Color Clubs, but this shade and delicate rainbows really is a class unto itself.  I had this one for a few days and it held up fairly well despite not having any topcoat or basecoat.  If you're looking for a strong holo, look elsewhere, but if you like to have some unique darker shades, such as the ones in my earlier post, you definitely need to pick some of these up!  What's your favorite shade from this collection?

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green Swatch And Review

Happy Friday!  I am really looking forward to Sunday because I need a morning to sleep in.  Those mornings are so far and few between now with the baby and it will be really appreciated after a week of jetlag and recovery from work and vacation.  There's definitely truth when I say that I need a vacation from my vacation!

I love contrasting colors and when I heard that Smitten Polish released a color called Pink Goes Good With Green, my interested was piqued.  It doesn't hurt that the base color is green, one of my favorite colors.  It's a lovely light mint green crelly with varying sizes of pink and gold hex glitters and a smattering of gold squares.  The formula was a little tricky - slightly thick with a tendency to streak and develop bald patches.  I used two thin coats followed with a thick third coat and finished with a layer of Poshe.

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green

I wish the green was a tiny bit darker, less pastel-ly, and I think next time I'll try swatching it over a darker green cream to see if I can get that effect.  Overall though, it's a soft and feminine color that is fun to wear any time of the year.  The formula was a little disappointing, but still workable and it won't deter me from trying out more Smittens in the future.